TORONTO, ON — The Minnesota Twins and their lucky sausage have gone international.
The bagged summer sausage that the red-hot Twins have been carrying for good luck made it across the Canadian border for Friday’s series-opening game against the Toronto Blue Jays, and then stuck around to see Minny win two of three.
The Twins posted a photo on social media depicting the sausage on the observation deck of Toronto’s CN Tower.
Hitting coach David Popkins cooked up the sausage superstition last month, grabbing an unopened summer sausage from a table in the clubhouse and encouraging his players to tap it before at-bats.
The sausage has already been on one Twins road trip, double-sealed in a plastic bag and stuffed into a shoe. Coincidence or not, it was in Canada while Carlos Santana homered in three straight games, including a 3-run dinger to set down the Blue Jays 5-1 in the series finale.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said the sausage made the trip with the team, but wouldn’t spill the beans on how the well-traveled piece of meat made it over the border into Canada.
“I wasn’t in charge of the sausage; I will not be in charge of the sausage,” Baldelli said before Friday’s game.
A Google search indicates that fresh, dried and cured meats (such as hams and sausages) are not allowed to cross the border into Canada, and any type of meat that is making the trip must be declared to customs.
The Twins have won 15 of 17, taking their past five series. Minnesota is 22-15 overall, 1 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.
Baldelli had previously said the Twins would ditch the summery meat after their winning streak ended at 12 games with a loss to Boston on Sunday. But somehow, the sausage stuck around through a home series against the Seattle Mariners in which the Twins won three of four.
The question now, will the inedible and aged sausage make it back across the border and into the States for a series with the Yankees, which kicks off in the Big Apple on Tuesday?
The Twins are no stranger to unique home-run celebrations. Last season, they brought a fishing vest and toy fishing pole to the dugout, a nod to the state’s 10,000 lakes.
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